Armpit fetishism

[2] The natural body smell is a powerful force in sexual attraction,[3] and can be focused by the strong pungent odor of the armpit: Alex Comfort considered that for a woman to shave her armpits was “simply ignorant vandalism”, obliterating a powerful sexual tool, and praised the French for greater sexual awareness than American deodorant culture in this regard.

[6] Havelock Ellis found evidence that (in a non-sexual context) smelling one's own armpit could act as a temporary energy boost.

[7] Certain pheromones found in armpit sweat, namely androstadienone, is shown to improve mood when smelled or licked according to a 2013 study.

[9] Sigmund Freud saw such fetishism as becoming problematic only when such preparatory acts substituted totally for intercourse as a final goal.

Stressing the importance in bagpiping of the (unlubricated) friction being confined to the penile shaft, Alex Comfort saw armpit intercourse as "Not an outstandingly rewarding trick but worth trying if you like the idea".